


Nesting

by whitehorsetiger



Series: Pack Dynamics [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Lance (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Bonding, Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Nesting, Omega Keith (Voltron), instincts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 01:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15619833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitehorsetiger/pseuds/whitehorsetiger
Summary: There is a common misconception that omegas only nest during their heat, this of course is false. They may nest when stressed, upset or just tired. Sometimes they will nest for other reasons, or for no reason at all. The nesting process is completely natural and can make a good bonding experience should the omega allow another in their nest.5 times Keith built a nest and one time someone else did.





	1. Five times

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Гнездо](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16647164) by [DreamerX2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamerX2/pseuds/DreamerX2)



**One**

It all happened so suddenly, Keith hiccupped softly as tears flooded down his face. He was shaking so badly, curled in on himself in the hospital waiting room. It had all happened so suddenly and now, Keith was an orphan.

The nest was a little crude, he hadn’t been given many blankets at the foster home, his arrival had been a bit sudden. It gave him some form of comfort though, surrounded by padded walls and curled up tightly. Pressing his hand over his mouth, Keith sobbed. He kept as quiet as possible as he cried, burying his face into the pillow.

His nest was destroyed by the other kids the next day, them mocking the comfort he drew from it, mocking the thoroughly omega-like behaviour. Keith got into his first fight that day, his dad had taught him how to fight, although had probably not intended for Keith to use it this way. It was five against one so Keith got his ass thoroughly kicked, but somehow, it made him feel better.

He didn’t last long at that foster home, or the next one. Apparently anger issues coupled with his complete unwillingness to socialise meant no one wanted to keep him, or even try with him. Keith nested almost obsessively, the constant moving playing hell on his instincts. He’d always dismantle them in the morning, determined to not let the other kids find out.

 

**Two**

His father’s cabin was in surprisingly good condition considering, Keith hadn’t been back since his death. Now, it looked like he was here to stay. Shiro was gone, Keith was alone in the desert with nothing but his speeder, a few possessions and an old cabin that carried too many memories. Honestly, Keith could’ve gone anywhere, he didn’t have to stay in the desert. There was something here though, something calling to him.

The roof would probably leak when it rained, although it would probably not matter for a little while. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, a few creatures scurried into the shadows when Keith opened the door. It was ok, he could work with it.

There were quite a few things left over from when Keith left, possessions Keith couldn’t stuff into a suitcase. It was fortunate really, he lost almost everything to the other kids at the foster homes. Wandering around, Keith looked around the cabin he had once called home. He hesitated at the door to his father’s room, hand hovering over the doorknob. With a long breath, he pushed it open.

Other than the thick layer of dust, it was just how he remembered it. It sent a slight pang through his chest, the familiar room without his father’s familiar scent. He took a couple of steps in, dust rising from the floor. There were a couple of photos on the wall and dresser, mostly of Keith and his father. The one in the centre of the dresser was taken a week before he died, reaching out, Keith lay it face down before turning and leaving the room.

His old bedroom hadn’t changed much either, other than the layer of dirt and the animals probably living in the dark corners. It was going to get dark soon, Keith really needed to sort out where he was going to sleep. Leaving his memories behind, he turned to clean out the living room.

He’d stolen some blankets from the garrison, well technically he’d walked out with them and nobody stopped him. The nest he built on the sofa was a bit messy, but it was comfortable and safe. It came as a surprise to everyone except Keith that he was an omega, he’d easily spotted all the warning signs before presenting. Everyone else was too busy predicting based on stereotypes to notice the obvious signs.

It was too warm to properly hunker down in the blankets like Keith wanted too, so he made do with curling up on top of his nest. He was facing away from the windows, one arm draped over his eyes. Maybe, somehow, this would all be ok.

**Three**

Shiro was talking, Keith knew Shiro was talking but couldn’t hear him past the ringing in his ears. Galra, Keith had galra blood. How, just how was that possible. How could he even face his pack, how could he tell them. For the first time since he’d arrived at the castle of lions, Keith’s instincts were screaming at him to nest, get safe, get away. He flinched when Shiro’s hand landed on his uninjured shoulder.   
“It’s going to be ok,” he said, trying to make his scent as soothing as possible.  
Keith really wished he could believe him.

His shoulder ached, but Keith refused to go into a healing pod. He was probably being paranoid but he was a little worried that Allura would decide he wasn’t worth keeping around, he also needed to get into his room and in a nest as quickly as possible. Instead he used a spray that should disinfect and speed up the healing process and a bandage.

There weren’t enough blankets, Keith didn’t like having too many to get tangled in. It was a bit of a problem now. He couldn’t exactly ask Allura where any more were and he didn’t want to talk to anyone, so he made do with what he had. Curled up with his one blanket and pillow, whining a little bit pathetically. That turned out to be a mistake, he forgot Lance’s room was just next door. As an alpha, Lance was particularly in tune with the sounds and scent of a distressed omega. Keith should’ve really expected him to come investigate.

There was a knock on the door, Keith automatically covered his head with his blanket.  
“Keith?” Lance called through the door, “I know you’re not alright.”  
“I’m fine,” Keith growled, “go away.”  
“I don’t believe you,” Lance said, “I’m just going to sit out here for a bit then.”  
“Lance,” Keith grumbled, “Go away.”  
“Hmm, no, I’m not going to do that,” Lance said, “My friend, my pack member, needs me, I’m not leaving.”  
Lance, wouldn’t really just sit out there would he? Surely, he had better things to do than sit out there, wanting to comfort him.

Keith didn’t know how long it had been, but there was no way Lance was still sat out there. Maybe he could sneak out and grab some more blankets, or at least hunt for some. Cautiously climbing off his bed, Keith padded over to the door even though he really didn’t want to. The door automatically slid open and with a yelp, Lance tumbled backwards through it. Keith’s eyes widened as he looked down at him, tensing immediately.

A wall of scent hit him suddenly, their rooms were scent-proof so Keith hadn’t been able to smell the comforting scent Lance had been releasing. It hit him like a train, making Keith want to just collapse and bury his face in Lance’s neck. That though, would be very embarrassing and impractical, so Keith just settled for staring down at Lance.  
“You’re still here?” he asked, probably a bit sharper than he meant to.  
“Well yeah,” Lance said, also a bit defensive, “I said I would.”  
“But, why?”  
“I already said, you’re my pack member,” Lance huffed, crossing his arms.  
He was still splayed out on his back so it looked a bit ridiculous.  
“Yeah, but,” Keith paused, crossing his arms tightly, “I’m not…I’m half galra Lance.”  
“You were half galra before we found out,” Lance shrugged, “We care about you Keith.”

His traitorous eyes were starting to burn, fingers gripping tightly onto the fabric of his jacket.  
“Go back to your room Lance, I’m fine.”  
“Because I’m going to believe that with your scent to sour,” Lance scoffed, finally standing up.  
Keith glowered, damn Lance and his intuition. How could someone be both do dense and so insightful at the same time.  
“I know what you need!” Lance said brightly, “Wait here!”  
He sprinted off.  
“This is my room!” Keith shouted after him, before slumping against the doorframe.  
Well, he may as well see what Lance would come up with.

A mountain of blankets was making its way towards Keith, how the hell did Lance find all of those?  
“Lance?” Keith asked, tilting his head to one side, “What?”  
“I’ve brought you some blankets!” Lance said brightly.  
“You, brought me blankets?” Keith said, heart doing strange things in his chest.  
Lance brought him blankets, brought him nesting materiel. No, no, don’t think like that. Lance was just being a good friend, a good pack member.  
“I…” Keith said, “Thanks.”  
He grabbed the blankets off Lance, hauling them all over to the bed. Now, he could properly start making his nest. There was something missing though, he had blankets, pillows.  
“Lance,” he called.  
“Yeah?” Lance replied, “What?”  
“Come talk to me,” Keith said, turning.

Lance was still hovering awkwardly in the doorway, looking over at Keith in his bedroom.  
“Come here,” Keith said.  
“Um, ok,” Lance said, shuffling over a bit awkwardly.  
“Just, talk to me,” Keith said.  
“Sure,” Lance shrugged, dropping to sit on Keith’s chair, “What about?”  
“Just, whatever, Earth? Your family?”  
“Sure,” Lance shrugged.  
Keith felt his shoulders loosen as Lance started to talk, brightly and happily and just completely normal. Keith clambered into his finished nest, straightening the last few blankets before settling in. He curled up in the nest, eyes fixed on Lance as he continued to chatter. It was oddly comforting and peaceful, not just his words but his scent permeating the room. Keith hummed happily, closing his eyes. Just for now, he could have some peace.

 

**Four**

Keith’s knees were shaking, his white-knuckled grip on the back of the black-lion’s chair the only thing keeping him from crumbling to the ground. How, how could this happen. How could he just loose Shiro again, how can he get his brother back just to lose him again? Everyone else was talking, theories bouncing around and what they could possibly do next. Keith’s brain seemed to have stopped functioning, instincts screaming at him.

They travelled away from the battle sight, fully expecting the place to be swarming with galra much too soon. If they wanted to search the area, they would have to go with the lions. Allura had already scanned the area, it was a bit difficult with all the galra around, but she couldn’t find Shiro. They would have to come back later. Keith wanted to shout, scream, cry. How could they move away, how could they just leave without Shiro?

Keith was angry, he wanted to fight, to punch something. But he just didn’t have the energy. He’d had an almost-nest basically constantly since finding out he was part galra. He tore the blankets off, throwing them on the ground, completely destroying his entire nest. It just made him feel so much worse, so grabbing all his blankets and pillows, he dragged them into the wardrobe. It was big and deep, perfect for building a hidden nest.

 Keith was almost expecting the knock at his door, almost, it still came as a little bit of a surprise. Who it was, was not.  
“Keith?” Lance called, knocking on the door again, “Keith? You in there?”  
Keith burrowed a bit deeper into his nest.  
“I’m here,” he said, surprised at how strong his voice was.  
“Ok, I’ll just…”  
“Come here,” Keith said softly, “Come in here.”  
Keith couldn’t really believe he’d said that, he’d done it without even thinking. The draw of someone to comfort, someone offering who he cared deeply about, it was just too much to resist.  
“Are you sure?” Lance asked.   
There, he’d given Keith an out, he could just take it and forget his moment of vulnerability ever happened.  
“Yes,” maybe not.

The door to his bedroom slid open, followed by the soft sound of feet. Lance must’ve been following his nose, as he stepped right up to the wardrobe in spite of the face it was basically closed.   
“Hey,” Lance said, “We’ll find him ok? I mean, space isn’t that big right?”  
“Lance, shut up,” Keith grumbled.  
“Yeah, I’ll just sit out here,” Lance sighed.   
Even though his mind was a complete mess, Keith could hear the pure exhaustion in Lance’s voice. He cracked the door open a little, the alpha was slumped against the other door. His chin had dropped to his chest, Lance was falling asleep. Keith was going to do something very forward, most people would probably think it was inappropriate. The omega didn’t care though, he needed the comfort, he needed the feeling of something solid, proof that most of his pack was still ok.

Pushing the door open even more, Keith reached through. He grabbed Lance’s arm, tugging.  
“Keith?” Lance said, frowning confused.  
Keith tugged and pulled at a very confused Lance, until he was pulled into the wardrobe and into Keith’s nest. Lance looked baffled, Keith couldn’t really blame him, nest sharing was a very intimate affair.   
“Just, stay,” Keith said.  
He hated it, he hated feeling this vulnerable, but he had a feeling Lance needed this as much as he did. The two of them curled up in the nest, comforted by the warmth and their mingling scents. The door was almost completely closed, so they could barely make out each other in the darkness. Keith was glad, it meant Lance couldn’t see the tears running silently down his face.

 

**Five**

He could just call them, call his team, call his pack. There was no reason for Keith to be suffering alone. Well, apart from the fact he’d isolated himself, pushed the team away and put them all in danger. They’d called him several times, but Keith had always been too busy to really talk or their schedules just didn’t line up. He’d said he’d call them back, but just never did. Eventually, they’d given up.

There were three missed messages on his communicator, one from Hunk and two from Lance. Keith had never been more tempted to call them back, just to talk to everyone again. They’d lost another member on a mission, he didn’t need them to see his tear-stained face and the bags forming under his eyes. He just needed to get some sleep.

Turning over and over in his bad, Keith couldn’t sleep. He really needed to, the las thing he needed was slowed down reactions. There was still a hope that he’d return to his pack one day, it helped him on the rough days. Even his hope of one day meeting his mother, or at the very least finding out what happened to her had dwindled. It wasn’t all bad though, he was doing some good work and felt incredibly useful, without the pressure of leader hood pressing down on him.

Flipping over again, Keith groaned. He grabbed and fluffed his pillow, he needed to make a nest. After the time when Shiro had gone missing, Keith had made sure to stockpile blankets whenever he could. He was becoming startling efficient at building nests, soon Keith was curled up comfortably in it.

Just, just think about sharing a nest with Lance. Their mixing scents, Lance’s warmth, the rise and fall of his chest. Keith should’ve taken them up on the offer of giving him something with the pack’s scent on it. Burrowing his face into the blankets, Keith groaned. Maybe he could imagine Lance’s scent, or at least his presence. With this in his mind, Keith managed to drift into a fitful sleep.


	2. Plus One

_It is also commonly believed that only omegas build nests, this is of course untrue. Believing this causes many alphas and betas to ignore their nesting instincts, thinking it is wrong to feel that way. This is, of course, very damaging to their psyche especially as the nesting instinct is most strong in times of distress. These instincts can be triggered in alphas and betas for the same reason they can be in omegas, it is simply a less common occurrence._

 

It took him embarrassingly long to realise there was something wrong with Lance. To be fair, Keith was busy with his new position of leadership, with Shiro not being at a hundred percent, his mom and the whole Altean colony thing. The more he ran these around in his head, the more they sounded like excuses. If he was being perfectly honest, Keith just didn’t notice Lance had become awfully quiet, that he seemed to avoid people, spending time they even spent landed in Red. All he really noticed were the times Lance mocked him, even those were becoming rare.

Lance hadn’t spoken to anyone all day, Keith knew this because he asked. Red was behaving a bit oddly as well, drifting a little and occasionally lagging behind the others. Keith had tried hailing Lance over the comms, but he just wasn’t answering.  
“Guys, Lance is not responding,” Keith said, “We need somewhere to land.”  
“There’s nothing for a while,” Allura replied, worry clear in her voice, “We’re in a very empty sector.”  
“Isn’t there a way to get across to the red lion?” Hunk asked, gnawing his lip.  
Keith glanced back into the cockpit of the black lion.  
“If Shiro’s willing to piolet for a bit, I could try using Cosmo to get across,” he said, looking back at the older alpha, “Will you be up for that?”  
Keith was a little surprised with the expression on Shiro’s face, the deep crease between his eyebrows.  
“Shiro?”  
“Sorry, yes, I’ll piolet for a bit. You need to check on Lance,” the way he said it, sent a shiver of dread down Keith’s spine.  
He nodded, standing up and reaching for his affectionally called, space-wolf.  
“Ok buddy, can you take us to the red lion?”  
Cosmo yipped lightly, before the world seemed to swirl and he was stood in the cockpit of the red lion.

Immediately, Keith knew something was wrong. The thick scent of an unhappy alpha saturated the air, heavy and sticky and just so wrong. Cosmo wined by Keith’s feet, shaking his head. Lance wasn’t in his chair, Keith panicked for a second before he realised there was no way for Lance to have left his lion.  
“Lance?” he called.  
Cosmo yipped, trotting forwards. The scent was so thick in the air, Keith couldn’t hope to find the source. Cosmo seemed to be having no trouble with that, freezing and pointing to the small space below the lion’s console.

A mass of bundled blankets tucked in the small gap, forming a messy nest. Lance was tucked in the centre, chest rising and falling uneasily with a slight wheeze, looking sweaty and very clearly ill.  
“Lance?” Keith called gently, kneeling down at the edge of the nest, “Lance?”  
Cosmo trotted forwards, lightly licking Lance’s hand resting just outside his nest. Even he seemed to understand the boundaries of the nest. Keith chewed on his bottom lip, really not sure what to do.

“Keith?” a weak voice croaked from the nest.  
Keith looked down, Lance’s eyes looked a bit gummed up but he was blinking sleepily at Keith.  
“Hey, how do you feel?” Keith asked, leaning over.  
Unconsciously, he reached over, resting his hand on Lance’s forehead. It was burning.  
“I’m alright,” Lance said.  
“You’re clearly not,” Keith replied, “You look awful and have a fever.”  
“Wow,” Lance groaned, “Tell me what you really think.”  
The alpha smiled weakly, before he broke off into a horrible hacking cough. Keith was tempted to reach over and rub Lance’s back, but that was too far into Lance’s nest and he didn’t want to impose. Lance groaned, curling in on himself, very clearly in pain.

The comms attached to the red lion’s console began to flash and chime, Lance winced at the sound. Keith stood up, answering it quickly to help with what he could only assume was a headache.  
“Is he alright?” Shiro asked.  
“How bad is it?” Hunk said, sniffling slightly, “I know, I should have known there was something wrong!”  
“I was worried the comms weren’t working properly,” Pidge said, “I kind of wish they were.”  
Keith let out a long breath.  
“Lance is sick,” he said, “It looks pretty rough.”  
“Oh no!” Hunk said, “You don’t think he picked something up on the last planet! What if it’s deadly to humans!”  
“We shall make a stop off at the next planet to check on him,” Allura said.  
“Someone should stay to make sure he’s ok,” Shiro said, looking pointedly at Keith.  
He didn’t even need that look, there was no doubt in his mind what he was going to do.  
“I’ll stay.”

Keith tried to cover up Lance’s distressed scent with a soothing one of his own, it was a bit difficult with the guilt and worry running around his head, but he managed as best he could. Lance was, sort of coherent, but he wasn’t talking, just wheezing and coughing.  
“Keith,” he called weakly, blinking over at him.  
“Yeah?”  
“Come here,” Lance said, patting the side of his nest.  
“You want me in your nest?” Keith asked, tilting his head to one side.  
Lance nodded, “It’s a bit of a pathetic nest.”  
“You’re sick, it’s excusable,” Keith replied, clambering in.  
He began to rearrange the blankets a little, neatening the walls and smoothing out the lumps. He didn’t know at what point it happened, but suddenly it went from Lance’s nest, to their nest. Keith tried to ignore the warm feeling that sparked in his chest, he hesitantly laid next to Lance. Cosmo clambered in too, collapsing across both their legs.

The alpha rolled over, curling up with his head on Keith’s chest.  
“If you get me sick, I’m going to kill you,” Keith said.  
Lance chuckled weakly, until it set him into a coughing fit. This time, Keith reached up to rub his back. Hopefully soothing the cough.  
“I’m sure your crazy galra genes will protect you,” Lance said, voice incredibly scratchy.  
Keith hummed, pulling Lance back to lay with him once he’d stopped coughing and caught his breath. It seemed to have used up all his energy, as he slumped completely bonelessly against Keith, groaning slightly. Wrapping his arm around Lance’s shoulders, Keith tucked him tighter into his neck, pressing right up against his scent gland. That should hopefully help, even though his skin felt like fire.

****

How far away could a place to land possibly be? Lance’s temperature seemed to be steadily climbing, but he was shivering badly. Keith had no idea what to do, if he could even do anything. Lance was twitching and wriggling, sleep fitful interspersed with coughing. At a complete loss, Keith pulled out his comm and called Shiro.

“Keith?” Shiro said, “Is everything alright?”  
“Lance’s fever is really high and he won’t stop coughing and I don’t know what to do,” Keith said, “He’s really sick, what if something happens?  
As if to prove his point, Lance immediately stared a series of sharp hacking coughs, wheezing desperately for breath. Keith dropped his communicator, sitting up alongside Lance to rub his back.  
“It’s alright,” he hushed softly, “Just breathe, come on Lance, you can do it.”  
“Hurts,” Lance whimpered, “It hurts.”  
“I know, I know, just breathe through it,” Keith said.  
Lance shuddered, tears running down his face. Eventually he calmed down, still shuddering and crying.  
“You’re ok, you’re ok,” Keith said softly, automatically tugging Lance into his arms.

“Keith?” shoot, he’d forgotten about Shiro.  
Scrambling for his communicator, Lance still in his arms, Keith picked it back up.  
“That sounded bad,” he said.  
“What do I do?” Keith asked.  
“Make him as comfortable as you can,” Shiro said, “Allura says we’re very close, there should be some pain killers and a cool pack in the lion’s first aid kit. He’ll need some water as well.”  
Of course, Keith had completely forgot about the small emergency aid kit in the lions. He’d been so concentrated on Lance.  
“Ok, I’ll let you know if anything changes,” Keith said, unconsciously stroking Lance’s hair.  
Shiro nodded, chewing his lip.  
“If you want one of us to come over, just let us know,” he said.  
Keith looked down at the top of Lance’s head, moving his hand to rub the base of his spine. He could do that, use Cosmo to head back over to the black lion and have someone else take over Lance-watching duty. But for one, it seemed like his space-wolf didn’t want to move, Keith didn’t really want to leave either. He didn’t really know if it was wishful thinking, or he was getting his hopes up too high, but Keith didn’t think Lance would let anyone else in his, in their nest.  
“No, it’s all right, I’ll look after him.”  
The look Shiro sent him almost made Keith want to punch him in the face, miraculous returning from the dead or not.  
“Alright, I’ll leave you too it.”

The first aid kits were all stored in the same place, towards the back of the lion’s cockpit in the wall. The problem, Keith would have to move to go get it. Lance’s face was screwed up in pain, his skin so warm and sticky and yeah, they needed that kit. Carefully, Keith extracted himself from Lance, ignoring his pathetic wining and Comos’s complaints of him moving.  
“I’ll be right back ok?” Keith said, crawling out of the nest, “Promise, I’m just going to get something to make you feel better.”

When he retuned with the kit and a few pouches of water, Cosmo had moved to lay across Lance’s chest. His eyes were a little bit open, hand buried in Cosmo’s fur.  
“Sit up,” Keith said, “You need to drink.”  
Lance’s eyes flickered over to him, blinking away the haze. He groaned, trying to get his elbows under himself Lance tried to push himself up. Putting down what he was carrying Keith helped Lance sit up, supporting a lot of his weight.  
“Drink,” he said, holding out a water pouch.  
Lance sipped at the water, Cosmo licking his chin, making him smile weakly. Keith opened the first aid kit, lucky one of the first thing they’d done was translate the altean into English.

He’d stuck the pain-killer patch on Lance’s arms, cracking the cooling pack to rest it on Lance’s forehead. The pain twisting Lance’s face had gone, although his breathing was still rough. Climbing back into the nest, Keith tugged the empty drinks pouch out of Lance’s hand, placing it to one side. The two of them lay back down, Lance’s eyes drifting back closed, Cosmo splaying across both their chests. Burying one hand in Cosmo’s fur, the other resting in the dip of Lance’s waist.

He’d just received an update from Allura, they were almost there, he’d need to land the red lion manually so needed to prepare to move. Lance seemed to have calmed down, his face was no longer twisted in pain and he seemed to be sleeping rather peacefully. That was until he bolted upright, sending Cosmo tumbling onto their legs. Then, he began to cough. Heavy and wet, covering his mouth, entire body jolting.

This went on for a long time, far longer than the rest of them. He hunched over, each consecutive cough becoming weaker and weaker as he lost breath. Eventually, he stopped, still shaking slightly.  
“Tissues,” Lance mumbled thickly.  
Keith darted up, grabbing a tube of them and diving back under, pulling several out of the tube. Lance turned away, taking them off Keith to wipe his face and hands. Not before he spotted the bright red.  
“Lance?” Keith said, grabbing his hands.  
He looked down at the mess of tissues, the blood smeared over his hands and face.  
“We’re almost there,” Keith said, reassuring himself probably more than Lance, “You’re going to be ok.”

****

Lance snarled the second anyone came into the Red lion, growling getting louder and louder if someone got close to their nest. Even through his worry, Keith couldn’t help but feel pride fill his chest with warmth. He was the only one Lance allowed in his nest, Keith was the only one he wanted close when he was sick. This created a bit of a problem, they couldn’t break the unspoken code of nests and have someone go in while Lance couldn’t fight back. The other option was getting Lance out of the nest, that was easier said than done.

It took all Keith’s tempting, cooing and calling to get Lance to leave the nest. He was not completely present, which probably helped. Keith had to act a bit more omega-ish than usual, but if it helped stop Lance from coughing up blood, he’d happily do it.

As it turned out, Lance had picked a bug up on the last planet they’d been on. He’d probably been feeling ill for the past week and just not told anyone, which Keith made a note to have some very angry words with Lance when he was better. Luckily, that meant it was easily cured with a short stay in the one healing pod they’d managed to bring with them.

****

The healing pod hissed open, depositing Lance out of it, falling forwards into Keith’s arms. The alpha buried his face in Keith’s neck automatically, humming happily. Keith felt warmth spread up his neck, until Lance seemed to realise what he was doing. He tensed, taking an immediate step back scratching his neck.  
“Um…I…” he started, before Coran whisked him away to check the bacteria had cleared.

Keith let out a long breath, looking out over the cliff on the planet. There was no atmosphere, no life here, it was just a convenient place to land until Lance was better.  
“Hey buddy,” Lance said from behind him.  
Keith turned, “You feeling better?”  
“Well, I was coughing up blood and basically felt like I was dying, so its not hard to,” Lance shrugged with a laugh.  
Keith growled, marching up and punching Lance in the shoulder. It didn’t do much, with their armour on, but it got his point across.  
“Idiot,” Keith said, “Why didn’t you tell anyone you were feeling ill!”  
Lance shrugged, “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”  
“Lance.”  
“It was only a light cough, I didn’t know it was going to get that bad,” Lance smiled lightly, “Honestly.”  
Keith glared, before letting out a long breath, shoulders dropping.  
“Alright, just, tell us next time ok? We were worried.”  
“Yeah, ok,” Lance said, not all that convincing.  
Keith considered pursuing the matter, but Lance had just gotten out of the pod and was probably exhausted, later, he’d deal with it later.

“Thanks for looking after me anyway,” Lance said, looking a bit awkward, “You didn’t have to do that.”  
Keith smiled, “We’re packmates, we’re friends, of course I did.”  
“Yeah,” Lance looked away, smiling lightly, “I guess so.”  
“You should probably get some rest,” Keith said.  
“Oh, yes,” Lance said, trailing off, “You left your wolf in my lion, you should probably come pick him up.”  
Keith wasn’t always the best at picking up social ques, but Cosmo could easily teleport himself over to the black lion. He knew an invitation when he heard one, there was no way he was going to miss out on this chance.  
“Sure, I should probably come get him.”

The nest had been dismantled, after all the blankets had to be cleaned. It didn’t take them long to reconstruct it, even if they did get into a few arguments on where things should go.  
“I’m the omega,” Keith said, trying to pull a blanket out of Lance’s hands.  
“So?”  
“Clearly, the better nest builder.”  
“I’ve been building nests with my family since I was five, stop enforcing stereotypes!”  
Cosmo decided to get in on the excitement, jumping into the blanket between them. The three of them, tangled in the blanket, tumbled into the almost-finished nest.

Lance burst out laughing, which caused Cosmo to jump onto his chest, tail wagging madly. Keith smiled at the scene, using this distraction to put the blanket where he wanted it. There, their nest was finished. Lance had dressed in his pyjamas, laid out in the nest, Cosmo having slumped across his chest. Keith was just in a t-shirt and boxers, readily taking the invitation to lay in the nest, head resting on Lance’s chest. Delicate fingers traced up and down his spine, following a random pattern only Lance seemed to know. Keith snuggled closer, making sure he was bathed in Lance’s scent. He didn’t know what they were, he didn’t know how long this would last. For now though, Keith was content to curl up in their nest, with his wolf and finally, drift off into a peaceful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is that, hope it was worth the one day wait...I did really want to get this out before the start of the new season. It's been a bit hectic and I've been suffering with the age-old problem of writers block...so I can't believe I managed it.
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed

**Author's Note:**

> I will probably get the second chapter (+1) out tomorrow, it turned out longer than I expected it to be...anyway, I wanted to write something fluffy involving a/b/o dynamic outside of heats/ruts...
> 
> Comments and Kudos always appreciated, hope you enjoyed so far


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